Yongle Encyclopedia
Overview
The largest paper encyclopedia ever compiled, ordered by the Ming emperor Yongle and finished in 1408 in nearly 23,000 volumes bound in yellow silk. Only around 400 volumes survive today after fires and wars. It preserved many texts now lost otherwise.
Related Manuscripts
Diamond Sutra
The world's earliest dated printed book, a Buddhist scroll produced by woodblock on 5 May 868 and found in the sealed Library Cave...
Dunhuang Manuscripts
Tens of thousands of documents sealed in the Library Cave at Mogao around 1000 and rediscovered by the Taoist monk Wang Yuanlu in ...
Beowulf Manuscript
The Nowell Codex, copied around 1000, contains the only surviving copy of Beowulf, the greatest Old English epic poem of 3,182 lin...
Exeter Book
The largest surviving collection of Old English poetry, copied around 970 and given to Exeter Cathedral by Bishop Leofric in 1072....